EA Sports’ college football game update coming sooner than you think, report claims

EA is planning to deliver an update on EA Sports College Football on the day of this year’s NCAA College Football Playoff National Championship game, a report has claimed.

The game, which is a revival of sorts for the old NCAA Football series, is slated to release at some point this summer, with EA having settled some legal issues stemming from its use of players’ likenesses in the game. Currently, we haven’t gotten to see that much about the game following its announcement back in 2021, but that could change this upcoming Monday.

A report from Brandon Marcello of American college football site 247Sports claims that EA plans to release an “official update” on the game to coincide with the playing of this year’s College Football Playoff National Championship game between Michigan and Washington.

Marcello’s report stressed that it’s unclear whether such an update on the game’s development would include a concrete release date for it, though it does seem like some fresh screenshots showing what the action it offers will look like could “potentially” be on the cards.

As noted, if accurate, an update on the game released to coincide with the playing of a big championship game would mirror how EA handled promoting its old NCAA Football series back in the 2000s. That series came to an end with NCAA Football 14, as EA was sucked into the growing controversy regarding whether the NCAA should compensate its players, rather than continuing to treat them as amateurs.

There’s been some shift in that debate in recent years, with NCAA President Charlie Baker having proposed allowing Division 1 schools to pay some of their athletes via trust funds just last month. He also suggested allowing these colleges to enter into “name, image and likeness licensing deals with athletes”, something that sounds like it could potentially make it easier for EA to use real players in its college football games.

As reported by VGC, EA CEO Andrew Wilson provided an update on how EA Sports College Football’s development was progressing during an earnings call in summer 2023. “Gameplay is really coming together, and really capturing all the action of pageantry, and the difference in college football versus the NFL,” he said, continuing: “I feel really confident in what the team’s doing.”

Wilson also said EA was “working through” securing all of the licences it needed for the game, asserting: “as of now, we’ve got many if not most of the schools licensed as part of our licensing platform.”

If you’re more interested in European footy, make sure to check out our coverage of the upcoming arrival of TOTY season in EAFC 24’s Ultimate Team.